Image source: Figureworm Creative
At the smart Week promotion week that just ended, the Polish e-commerce platform Allegro handed over a different answer: the active users of the platform averaged three million items per day; the seller's large promotion volume increased significantly, and the daily transaction volume was 72% more than usual; small and medium-sized sellers became the core subject of the explosion, and the total turnover of more than 8,000 small and medium-sized sellers during the promotion reached 980 million zlotys (about 1.6 billion yuan)... In terms of the number of offers, the stock of goods and the amount of concessions, they have surpassed the performance of previous years.
The seven-day Smart Week Promotion Week has had a very positive impact on sellers' businesses and proves once again that Allegro has become a shopping paradise for Polish consumers – they can buy all the products they need, whether it's everyday items, electronics or fun and fun little things.
Freight rates are soaring, logistics are tight! At a time when it is becoming more and more difficult to break the list, it is not easy to achieve such a brilliant report card. Driving sales with activities is the usual method of each platform, and behind the scenes, in fact, the small language platform provides more practical support in empowering sellers to grow.
Why Allegro? Why Poland?
The continuation of the new crown epidemic has accelerated the onlineization of global consumption, but it has also made the cross-border e-commerce situation once again chaotic. Affected by factors such as the gradual saturation of the market and the rising operating costs of platform compliance, sellers have spilled over, and small language markets and small and beautiful platforms have become new targets for cross-border e-commerce sellers.
As far as the more mature Western European markets represented by Britain, France and Germany are concerned, the time for the Central European market to enter the vision of cross-border e-commerce sellers is not far away. However, with its stable economic form, unique geographical advantages, and the country's open development policy, Poland is unique among European countries, and its economic development level is even comparable to that of Germany. The light of the "neighbors" is too dazzling, but many cross-border e-commerce sellers ignore this blue ocean market, and now that the prelude to the explosion has begun, a clear map of the new blue ocean platform is intuitively presented in front of the seller.
(Photo: Allegro)
As the sixth largest economy in the European Union, the e-commerce market has huge room for development. Cross-border transactions in Poland account for only 10% of the overall e-commerce market, well below the EU average of 30% and far from saturation. According to Lengow, France, Poland's e-commerce platform market is growing at a rate of 22.6% per year, far surpassing European countries such as the United Kingdom (15.8%), and the transaction volume is expected to double this year.
According to market research firm Euromonitor, the Polish e-commerce market is now worth 16 billion euros, about 19 billion US dollars, compared with the United Kingdom, France, Germany and other Western countries, there is still a lot of room for growth. More advantageously, Poland is located at the "crossroads" of Europe, has a trans-European transport artery, is an important node country of the Silk Road Economic Belt, and has a number of China-Europe trains passing through Poland or taking Poland as the destination. As the transportation and logistics center of Europe, the comprehensive support of sea, land and air will make logistics and business rotation more convenient.
Looking back at Allegro itself, whether it is from the number of registered users or from the number of website views, Allegro has developed into a small giant of European e-commerce. With nearly 21 million monthly active users, the platform has created a staggering 2 billion in page traffic, ranking among the top five in Europe in terms of visits, and is a far ahead of other platforms. It is estimated that about 90% of Polish consumers have purchased products on their e-commerce websites.
After the successful IPO in 2020, Allegro is firmly in the top position of Polish e-commerce, according to the second quarter of 2021 Allegro financial report, its platform revenue reached 295.9 million zlotys (about 470 million yuan), an increase of 59.9%; allegro platform merchandise sales reached 10.4 billion zlotys (about 16.8 billion yuan), an increase of 10.6% year-on-year, of which advertising business revenue grew the fastest, up to 32.1 million zlotys (51.86 million yuan), The year-on-year increase was 39.5%.
Today, Allegro has grown into an e-commerce giant with a market value of about 70 billion zlotys, about 113 billion yuan. Under the heavy money increase, it is clear that Allegro has more possibilities in the future.
Blockbuster Promotion: Sold out in 11 seconds, the average number of visits per second on the homepage is as high as 7 times
During the promotion period, the platform homepage received an average of 7 visits per second, with the highest traffic categories including: Home & Garden, Health & Beauty, and Electronics. Among them, the LEGO Speed series Ferrari F8 Trubtio model and the Xiaomi Dreame V11 vacuum cleaner sold out in the fastest time, taking 11 seconds and 1 minute respectively.
During this event, electronic products are still a popular category, Microsoft Xbox S series gamepad, Apple iPhone 12, Nintendo Switch controller, Xiaomi Smart Band 6, De'Longhi automatic coffee machine, Xiaomi Robotock S5 Max vacuum cleaner, Realme narzo 30A smartphone, Mi Robot vacuum mop and other products dominate the most popular products of the promotion week.
(Photo: Figureworm Creative)
According to reports, electronic products are one of the fastest growing key strategic categories of the Allegro platform, and it is also the most popular category for buyers. In addition to electronic products, categories such as home and garden, health and beauty, clothing, shoes and home appliances are also the fastest growing key strategic categories.
During the event, nearly 200 million goods played a tempting discount price, discount area goods even up to three folds, in this consumer crazy, sellers for the excitement of the shopping carnival, the platform not only for the transaction free shipping (including return costs), to provide high-quality services, but also the top entertainment activities of exclusive pre-sale, exclusive product launch and many other benefits, participating in the activity of sellers of goods can have super exposure in the event.
Thanks to the allegro Smart! program's delivery system, 98% of orders are delivered within 1-2 business days. Aleksandra Sroka-Krzyżak, Head of Strategy at Allegro, said: "Our goal is to provide our customers with a good price, a wide selection of goods and excellent delivery services. This makes us break the record once again this year. ”
In addition to SMART Week, the Allegro platform also regularly holds some seasonal promotions, such as summer promotions and winter promotions, as well as back-to-school season promotions, cyber Mondays and so on. To remind sellers, Halloween and Christmas are very important holidays for Poles, and there is a much-anticipated year-end promotion - Black Five Promotion Week, which is the biggest shopping festival on the platform, as a traditional year-end shopping reservation project for overseas consumers, Black Friday will undoubtedly set off another wave of shopping frenzy. These festivals will be followed by a wave of year-end shopping boom, and it is recommended that sellers speed up the selection process to meet the peak season order tide.
Logistics general rules and business flows! Reduce costs and improve efficiency, and lengthen the brand growth curve of sellers
How to provide more support for Chinese sellers is a problem that Allegro has been considering.
Poor logistics is one of the most important problems encountered by cross-border e-commerce sellers in 2021. As a link that cross-border logistics is uncontrollable, logistics is generally prosperous, and logistics congestion is under pressure on sellers. How to build a sound logistics system to make the seller's goods unimpeded? Industry insiders said that regarding logistics problems, in addition to logistics providers, in fact, platforms and other entities also need to help sellers.
Continuously improving the construction of the logistics system is one of the main directions of Allegro's efforts in recent years. According to Allegro's official announcement last month, Allegro is building a new logistics center in the capital Warsaw and will launch its own warehousing and logistics service , One Fulfillment.
It is reported that as of now, dozens of enterprise sellers selling on Allegro have been invited to join the pilot program. The service will be available to all sellers as early as the first quarter of 2022. At that time, the Allegro Logistics Center will have many automated operation modes, such as the warehouse's advanced management system, delivery machines and scanners. This will ensure that the goods are controlled at every stage of the warehouse, speeding up and reducing the processing costs of the order.
At the same time, the service will also be able to provide buyers with faster delivery times, while sellers will be able to offer more attractive conditions, thus gaining a competitive advantage and increasing sales. It is worth noting that the geographical location of Poland will also be conducive to sellers to lay out the entire European market, especially the platform also plans to further expand its business to other Central European countries in the future, sellers can use the resources of the platform to quickly develop Central and Eastern European business, for international sellers, this will be a very good business development opportunity.
It is understood that Allegro's service provider network can continue to recommend good logistics partners to sellers, so that sellers can find more suitable logistics partners. From the head journey to the delivery, we provide sellers with logistics solutions that suit the seller's own situation and empower the seller. In particular, the platform has also launched a "Fast Shipping Program" that provides strong support for fast shipping for sellers participating in the Allegro Smart Week program. In addition, if the seller ships on the same day that the customer places an order, they can enjoy a discount on the shipping fee. For each fast-shipping order, the platform will automatically offer a discount.
In order to ensure its leading position in the industry and improve the logistics warehousing and express cabinet service system, Allegro has also acquired X-press couriers, a courier company that cooperates with the platform to focus on same-day delivery. X-press Couriers is another high-potential company to join the Allegro Group after OpenNet and Find.Ai.
According to the person in charge of the platform, this move improves the One Fulfillment plan that will be further improved, and also optimizes the self-owned express cabinet service system that the platform will implement. A series of strategic acquisitions by Allegro will help sellers clear logistics barriers and provide higher quality delivery services, which is also in line with One Fulfillment and will be more conducive to sellers' layout in the European market.
In order to allow Polish consumers to access more diversified products, the platform is positive and open to overseas sellers, especially Chinese sellers with supply-side advantages.
At present, Chinese sellers do not have to pay any fees to enter Allegro, nor do they need to provide additional translation documents, Chinese or English originals can be uploaded, and the platform also provides free seller training and professional Chinese support. New sellers will also receive new account welcome benefits, including exemptions from listing fees, referral fees and other preferential services.
Multi-platform, multi-channel operation has become the latest trend in the cross-border e-commerce industry, combined with Poland's geographical advantages and development trends, whether it is for small and medium-sized sellers who want to open up new routes in Europe, or cross-border sellers who have already laid out in other European countries, Poland's high-potential dividend market is undoubtedly an ideal target for opening up new markets.